Cloud storage is a model of networked enterprise storage where data is stored not only in users' computers but also in virtualized pools of storage that are generally hosted by third party companies. Hosting companies operate large data centers and the data center operators virtualize necessary disk and other resources in the background in accordance with the requirements of the users. The virtualized disk and other resources are exposed as storage pools to which the users store files and other data objects.
Cloud storage client devices often use client software program(s) to upload and download files from a cloud storage server. The client software program(s) running on a cloud storage client device can provide a user with a view onto a very large number of files stored in a cloud storage directory. For performance reasons, among others, however, it is not always desirable to download all of those files prior to use. Existing cloud storage client solutions either retrieve/download a file on demand or do not present a file to a user at all until that file is resident on the user's cloud storage client device.